Fire officials say Figueroa Fire is fully contained

Imperial County Fire Captain, Enrique Robledo confirmed the fire is now 100% contained, although the smoke appeared to be growing early Thursday afternoon.

“The fire was contained last night, Robledo said. “But with the winds that picked up towards the southeast, there was a flare up, catching some additional brush on fire.”

Although Imperial County firefighters received many calls throughout the day about rising smoke, Robledo said the reason points to high winds.

“We did receive one call, that the smoke was [rising,]” Robledo said. “We did respond out there and it was [essentially] the smoke with the heat of the dirt, [causing it to appear stronger.]”

Robledo said there are still firefighters in the area keeping any eye on the situation, in case the fire were to cross containment lines throughout Thursday night.

According to firefighters, no structures were threatened by the Figueroa fire.

“Initially there [were] some structures in danger, [but] we were able to protect and save them.” Robledo said. “With the flare up last night, there was one additional structure that was endangered, but with the quick response and so many units out there already, it was extinguished.”

The Imperial County Fire Department responded to the fire Wednesday afternoon and immediately made their way to the scene in Imperial County.

According to the Imperial County Fire Department, the fire broke out near Winterhaven Drive and the I-8 Freeway, around 1 p.m.

“Today we got the initial call for a fire on the river,” Derrick Youngerman, the Fire Station manager for the Bureau of Land Management said. “We got on the scene, [and] Imperial County was already here. We did a unified command with them, and began looking for spots where we could get in and actually put in fire breaks.”

ICFD said the fire burnt a total of 32 acres. It is now under investigation by the Bureau of Land Management.

Officials named the fire Figueroa Fire, after they said it began near Figueroa Road.

Youngerman said, many firefighters based in the Arizona and California state lines assisted Imperial County firefighters with fighting the flames.

According to Youngerman, the Bureau of Land management, Fish and Wildlife service, ICFD, the Marine Corps and the Yuma Fire Department responded.

Although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Youngerman said it could have been caused by dry desert conditions.

“The fuel is receptive,” Youngerman said. “The vegetation is very dry and it’s continuous along the river. It had a lot of room to move. [There were] very light winds today, so it was mostly fuel driven.”

Although one home was in the path of the brush fire, Youngerman said firefighters immediately controlled the fire’s path with fire breaks.

“We did have a couple of campers out here, in Imperial County,” Youngerman said. “[We] went in and did a lot of good work around a couple of structures down there, and stopped the fire from burning up the camp.”